It’s Sunday. Our Gemini catamaran is moored at ball #77 at Dinner Key mooring field in Coconut Grove, Florida. Our daily travel is over.
Diann and I actually slept until after 8AM.
In spite of our plan to do nothing all day- we both got busy after breakfast. Diann cleaned and vacuumed the interior. Thank goodness for the 1000 watt inverter. I set about washing the boat’s exterior with fresh water. Meanwhile our Westerbeke engine ran to charge the battery bank.
To obtain the water, I pulled, from a large locker, our 70 quart equestrian “muck tub” and took it to the facility’s pump out and water slip. Once I had about 15 gallons of water I returned to Yacht A Fun. Amazingly none sloshed out.
By attaching a rope to a 2 gallon bucket I was able to drop that bucket over the side of the boat into the improvised water barrel and do the wash and rinse. It took two trips to the facility water faucet to do the whole job. Having the fresh water was a good thing.
It being after 1PM when Diann and I finished what we had begun, we opted for a walk of The Grove. We stopped by the mooring field office to inquire of a parking sticker for a Christmas visit from family. Who should be in the office but Mike and Lori of the Gemini “Cheshire”. We had met Mike and Lori the first day we arrived in Oriental- back on Wednesday after Labor Day.
With family coming to visit, we window shopped a number of restaurants, looking for a bargain. There are many, many, good restaurants scattered in the central part of the community. Another $18+ entre’ was not, however, within our budget for today’s lunch.
We found “Mr. Moes” on Commodore (Street / Avenue). Half pound burgers were $7.95 as opposed to $12 and $14 elsewhere.
Mr. Moe’s
Great Burgers, inexpensive beer
Thirsty from our sun exposed dinghy ride, and long walk, I inquired of beer specials. A manager came over and suggested a $4 draft (vs. $7 for bottled beer elsewhere). “Sure”, I said.
Our waitress asked if we wanted the regular size or the large. I replied, “for $4 we’ll take the large.” Well, the 32 ounce beer was $5.55 each (not $4). Compared to $7 for a 12 ounce beer we felt we had indeed found a bargain place for simple fare.
Zoey waits fro french fry
Our Pomeranian girl dog, Zoey, had joined us. She was served a 32 once cup of ice water. Diann placed her in an adjoining chair and served her bites of French fries (with catsup). The dog was intensely focused on those fries. It was her first alfresco dining experience.
After lunch we continued to explore The grove. By 4:45 the sun was letting us know we could either dinghy back with daylight, or walk some more and dinghy in the dark. We opted for daylight.
Three sides of our evening view contain lights. Coconut Grove lights are the closest. To the right is Miami. Further right, within the arc, is South Beach. The balance of the arc is Biscayne Bay, which has a few specks of light- mostly from a few boats.
It’s just 6:47 and Diann is already in her “jamies”, and reading her Kindle. We are relaxed, to say the least. The daily travel adventure provided great experience. But being “put” for a while does feel good.